I love how THW games handles solo gaming and I was having a great time doing it but I was still missing how much fun I remember having playing with other people. A couple of weeks ago I recieved a message from a fellow THW gamer on the THW forums who had noticed that we both had the same location of Portland ME in our profiles. This gamer, named John Paul and paulnutsplayer on the forum, asked if I would be interested in meeting up for some THW gaming. As you can tell from his forum name he is a fan of the THW WWII rules NUTS!. NUTS has been near the top of my 'to buy' list of THW rules since I first found them so I jumped at the chance to be able to try out the system.
Last night we were able to get our schedules to line up so that we could meet up for the first time to play. We met up at a local gaming lounge called R Choice 2 Gaming where John Paul hosts Fantasy Chess gaming the 2nd saturday of every month. Since neither of us had had dinner we first went across the parking lot to the Burger King to grab a bite to eat and talk gaming. It was great to be talking miniature gaming with someone sitting in front of me again and not just through a computer screen. After we had finished eating we stayed for a little longer and John Paul and I went through the NUTS! rule book from cover to cover. With our bellies full we headed back across the parking lot to throw some dice!
Before I start the AAR I have to apologize for the quality of the pictures. I had meant to bring my camera but forgot it at home and had to rely on my crappy flip phone. John Paul brought a bunch of 15mm American and German soldiers as well as a couple of vehicles and some terrain. He set up a simple scenario where our game would be taking place. It was a location where a fire fight had already taken place but the fighting has shifted away to another part of the battlefield leaving behind some disabled vehicles and some battle scarred buildings. We would both control opposing squads, John played the Germans and I played the Americans, who were entering the area on patrol looking for enemy activity or maybe to inspect the disabled vehicles to see if they were salvageable. We rolled up our squads REP and I rolled very well and ended up with a squad of battle hardened veterans with high REPs. My squad consisted of 6 infantry men, two with SMGs, one with a BAR and 3 with M1 grand rifles. John Paul's squad consisted of 5 Germans, two with SMGs two with bolt action rifles and one with a dreaded MG42. We entered at opposite ends of the table and I was able to activate first and move my squad.
In front of my squad was a 3 story house that would provide cover and a great view of the whole battlefield so my first move was to run my squad up to the building.
John Paul had his squad advance from the other end of the table and took cover behind a disabled halftrack.
At the start of the 2nd turn I received reinforcements in the form of two REP 3 privates. Clearly these green soldiers had been ditched by their veteran squad mates. And wouldn't you know they failed their fast move test and were left lagging behind as my veterans continued to advance not waiting for the new recruits. I split my squad with my corporal with an SMG, my BAR man and my REP 5 rifleman staying behind to secure the 3 story house. The corporal took up position at one of the 1st story windows while the other two started their advance up to the 3rd floor. I was hoping to get my BAR up to the 3rd floor before John Paul was able to get his MG42 into a good position. My Sgt with an SMG took the other two riflemen and quickly advanced into cover behind a disabled tank. John Paul had moved his squad behind a burned out farmhouse but unfortunately for him his troops had no way of entering the building from that side. I placed one of my riflemen against the side of the tank instead of behind it in the hope of having a clear shot at the Germans if they came around that side of the house.
With no way to enter the house John Paul split his squad and prepared to move them out from behind it. His Sgt took two men and fast moved towards the next building with his MG42 leading the way. As they ran from cover my Cpl was able to see them triggering an insight test! Unfortunately because they were running they were able to move a little more before my Cpl was able to shoot and this took the MG42 out of his field of view. The MG42 may have escaped but the Sgt wasn't so lucky as he was knocked out of the fight thanks to a lucky roll by me. The MG42 made it too the next building with his loader stopping to grab his wounded Sgt, after passing his crisis test, and making it into cover behind the next house.
John Paul's Cpl and remaining rifleman came out from the other side of the first house and into view of my rifleman I had placed along the side of the tank. After the in sight test my hot dice continued as my rifleman was able to get off a kill shot on the Cpl leaving to remaining German rifleman to pull he dead comrade back into cover behind the building.
With it getting late and both the German Sgt and Cpl OOF we decided to end the game. The Germans, carrying their dead and wounded comrades, fled the field. Even though this was just a small teaching game I still had a lot of fun and the rules really made for some great moments. I want to thank John Paul for a great night of gaming and chatting! I had a blast and I'm looking forward to playing more games with him soon.
John,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. Its so cool to find a fellow THW player up here.
Very good AAR. I can tell we'll be playing regularly and drawing in newbies as they see our great set-ups and how much fun we're having.
- John Paul